<p>This is my first post on CC, so make me feel welcome. :)</p>
<p>I am applying to colleges this year as I am a rising senior. I plan to attend law school after graduating with a bachelor's. What do law school admission officers like to see as a major?
Pre-law? Or, do they figure you're gonnna study enough of law at 'law' school. </p>
<p>Also, do graduate schools give preference to students who already attended their undergraduate school?
For instance- does a kid at UVA have a greater chance of getting into UVA law school than does a kid from another college? </p>
<p>From what I have seen it doesn’t matter in that instance. Obviously a more academic school will carry more weight. The Admissions Committee will be interested in your GPA and your LSATs. Major in something you will do well in, doesn’t matter what.</p>
<p>Don’t do pre-law. If you decide you don’t want to/can’t get into law school and your major was “pre law” you’re going to be pretty hamstringed as far as career oppurtunities go. Even if you think you’re 100% sure it is what you want to do, things change. I know a lot of people doing the engineering to law school route, but most of them are doing patent law.</p>
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<li><p>Law school isn’t grad school, it is professional school.</p></li>
<li><p>Most law schools aren’t too happy with a prelaw major. My college has a law and history minor and in the description they tell you that it doesn’t help with law school admissions.</p></li>
<li><p>Most law schools will give preference to undergrads from the same institution. Let’s say you go to UVA. UVA law will give you a slight boost. However, all of your UVA classmates (at least the ones with competitive numbers) will also apply to UVA law. That starts to blur whatever advantage you might have had because there is a ton of internal competition. I wouldn’t be too concerned with this though.</p></li>
<li><p>
Genearally this is the case.</p></li>
<li><p>There are stats online that show philosophy majors do the best on the LSAT, econ majors do well, etc. IMO your major has little to do with your law school prep or your LSAT score. Your major has more to do with your interests. Many students interested in law are attracted to majors in polysci, history, economics, and philosophy. Philosophy is geared towards more logical thinking and econ is more quantitative. The people who go through with those majors might just be ones more predispositioned to score well on the LSAT anyway and not necessarily the major preparing you better. So long as you don’t major in underwater basketweaving any major should be fine so long as you get good grades and LSAT scores.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’ve seen almost every major for pre-law students. My advice: go for one somewhat related to the law you want to study and that you would willingly fall back on in case you decide not to become a lawyer. A surprising number of people tell me they went for Biology in college. I can’t remember the type of law they want to study (something medical-y – as you can see, I know nothing about law!), but most of them wanted to become geneticists or something were they to change their minds.</p>
<p>For the major, from what I’ve read, ANYTHING but pre-law is fine. Pre-law is the absolute worst major. Law schools hate it because people then presume they know something about law, which they don’t. They also want mroe diversity of background. However, though the schools don’t really favor a certain major, some majors will lead to obtaining the skills for a higher LSAT score. Here’s a table for this: [Average</a> LSAT Scores for 29 Majors with over 400 Students Taking the Exam](<a href=“http://www.uic.edu/cba/cba-depts/economics/undergrad/table.htm]Average”>Business | University of Illinois Chicago)
The disadvantage of majors like math/physics is that they usually will result in a lower GPA. But really, just take something you like, and you’ll do fine.</p>
<p>Do remember, however, that law school may fall through, and if you majored in English… I too have plans to go to law school, but I’m an econ major, which is one of the more highly paid degrees, allowing for a contingency plan.</p>